Exit polls indicate that only 37 percent of voters thought President-elect Donald Trump “qualified to be president.” Only 34 percent, said he had “the right personality and temperament for the office.”

In many states, voters simply refused to choose between Hillary Clinton and Trump. In Michigan, for example, some 90,000 voted but refused to make any choice at all for President.

Honor bound to salute

As was the case for Al Gore in the 2000 election against George W. Bush, Clinton had the support of more voters than her opponent.

Nevertheless, under our constitution, Trump will soon take the oath of office as President of the United States of America.

We as citizens will be honor bound to salute the new president’s rank, despite all his failings as a man. Both President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have already done so, with grace and style, as was their duty.

That said, saluting Trump’s new rank does not mean one must ignore the man or condone his behavior, either as president or as a private citizen.

Do our best to do our duty

Under our own Uniform Code of Military Justice troops who must literally salute rank are also honor bound to refuse to obey orders that are illegal.

They are also morally bound to do everything in their power to see that such orders are not executed by other, more willing, executioners. Indeed, we as a people honor those with the courage to do so: hence the medals awarded to those soldiers who testified against platoon leader Lt. William C. to deliver at least a measure of justice to the victims of the massacre at My Lai during the Vietnam War.

The same standards hold true for ordinary citizens, civilians, in a democracy.

As every Boy Scout swears, we must indeed “do our best to do our duty.” But, as we learned at Nuremberg and in Vietnam, only up to a point.

Policies for the greater good

What, then, is the honorable thing to do until the new president actually does something illegal or immoral (or is found guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors committed before he became president)?

What policies or actions promoted by President-elect Trump can we all agree on and support for the greater good of our country?

The following 14 points, all given voice and supported by Trump at some point during his mean-spirited campaign, would seem to form a basis for moving the country forward in a positive and bipartisan spirit.

Did he really ever suggest all these points? or was it just a ‘one off’ statement? Or it could be like the boy in ‘My Cousin Vinny’ that the boy says, “i?” “Killed the clerk?” and police reports that the boy said “I kelled the clerk”

Actually, he DID suggest all those points . . . and, often, their opposites. The list of things he thinks or promised to do that we liberals must opposed with every legitimate tool at our disposal . . . wall-building, mass roundups and deportations, climate change, war crimes, et al . . . is longer than long.

See my comment on the Stelter article in this series. Most of the things in this list are directly contradicted — by himself on various occasions — and certainly by his entourage (remember, his economic advisors are Stephen Moore, Lawrence Kudlow, Arthur Laffer, and now Peter Navarro — all charlatans (as Krugman puts it) as economists (i.e., all tinkle-down)). I didn’t mention his total denial of climate change and his pending appointment of a guy who is to end EPA. There are huge costs in the future for this denial. If he carries out even 2 or 3 of the things on the list, I will be surprised.

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